Catheter connector devices for coupling a catheter to a fluid delivery or storage device such as a syringe or a medicament fluid line is known. Such devices may be used for medical procedures including an epidural injection procedure whereby a catheter is inserted into a patient's epidural space so that medicament may be injected to the patient to locally anesthesize the patient for example during child birth. Before an epidural catheter can be inserted into the epidural space of the patient, an epidural needle is first inserted into the epidural space. Thereafter an epidural catheter is guided by the needle into the epidural space of the patient and the epidural needle is removed. A catheter connector device then connects the free end of the catheter to a syringe, a fluid line or other fluid store means that has the medicament. The prior art medical catheter connector devices would clamp the catheter and provide an end whereby the luer of the syringe, fluid line or other fluid store means may be connected so that a fluid path is established between the catheter and the syringe, fluid line or other fluid store means. Some prior art catheter connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,078,703, 4,006,744, 6,350,260, 7,635,355, and U.S. publication Nos. 2006/0271000, 2008/0183154.
Most, if not all of the noted patents and publications disclose devices having locking mechanisms that are exposed, so that there may be accidental uncoupling of the catheter. The others of those disclosed devices require the relative twisting and turning of portions of the devices to align the catheter with the fluid store means, if the fluid store means happens to be a fluid line.
The instant invention catheter adapter overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art catheter connectors.